Ratchet structure



1941- L. o. BECKER RA'I'CHET STRUCTURE Filed Aug. 5, 1940 FIG.8.

, INVENTOR. LESTER O. BECKER Patented Feb. 25, 1941 U D T TES TENT OFFICE amounts srR c'rURE Lester 0. Becker, St. LouisfMoL, assignor to Joseph'Pavelka, St. Louis, Mo.

attainmen s,1940, S'erialNo.3, 573

I Claiins. (CINE- 157) I I it The invention relates to ratchet devices in opposite end is adapted to engage the nut teeth. which a pawlelementis thrust into engagement Each pawl is provided with a spring tending witha toothelement or is held out of such ento thrust the pawl, into engagement with the nut gagement', as desired bythe operator. teeth. v I 5 l Reference is made to an earlier applicationby l An elongated passageway l6 extendsfrom side 5 the present inventor filed April 2'7, 1938, Serial to side of vbodyl and each pawl has apassage No. 204,559 on a Hail bender, whichrapplication way I'l which will be fully aligned with passage discloses and originallyclaimed subject matter way [6 when the pawl is inovedout ofengage- 11 claimed in the present application,,the latter ment with the nut teethgasshown by pawlll,

0 being in part a continuation of-said earlier filed or may bejmoved as shown byipawl 10 so that 1 application. p r 5 v I the pawl passageway extends 'diagonally-of the One object of the present invention is toprobody passageway although the opposite ends of tect the pawl and to'oth parts. from dirt or injury the" pawlpassagewayarenot wholly offset from by enclosing these parts in asuitablehousing, the adjacent portions of the bodypassageway. I Another object of the inventionv is v to simplify Anpperatihghpin" Iii-extends throughpassage 5 the structure and assembly of the-pa'wl and tooth Ways! ll andlhas portions m of maximum elements and to simplify the shifting of the pawl thickness whichwi-H snugly it the" passageways into and out of engagement with the tooth eleand other portionsZl] of reducedthickness wh ich, merit, H when extending through the pawl passageways, 0 These and other detail objects of. the invenr D lf i the P WlS 1J0 DiVot bn their seats Mflso tion as pointed out below mead-amen ia the aslto rnove to'the position indicated by p wl t0. structureillustrated in the accompanying draw When a thicker portion l9 of the pin is pi'o- 1 jected through thepawl"passageway,'thenfbe ing,in whichr L ,v H m Figure l is a top vi wer ran b ndi g d ic cause of the fit betweenthfpinand the pawl in which thrust is applied to the rail by ascrew p s agew y e pawl willgbe held out of "en- 25 jackdevice operated by a ratchet structure .eine e se W the nut teeth as indicatdby bofdyin'gthepresentvinventionf' pawl ll; l' in portions l9 and 20 are so spaced Figure 2 is atop view oi t e ratchet members relative to eachother and relative to thedisand associated'parts witha cover platetherefor iiibetween the a s' t n y o p wl a removed. y I I engag' ethe nut teeth at-thesarnetime. Bin l8 Figures 3,4 and 5 aredetail sectionsi taken projects at b oth sides of body 1, 'and the pm on the corresponding section lines of Eigure 2.f,, readily shifted axially by manual pressure'from Figure 6 correspondsfgerierally tofiigurefz bult position shown infigure 2 to release pawl illustrates another formioff the invention. l I from the retracted position shown and to en "Figures 7 and are detail sections' taken on gag a dmove 'pawi i tci av i e ted the "corresponding sauce linesoiil'igure ,16' position, thus providingiipr theselective positive Figure 9 is a view similarto Figurelloutshbws drive 'o f gthetoothednut' in either direction dethe invention applied to another to namely, sired and for the free riding f the driving niern ""a rail punch. i her over the'nut intheopposite direction.

10 Thetool illustrated in urejl comprises a A, cover plate '2I1is applied to b d I andover- 40 framel with widely 'spaced'jaws zior engaging 'l ies the lfacegf" he t hatouof pin l8 one side of a r a il 3. A jack screw 4 is slidable and cooperates w ith the recessesfinlbody 1,1 to axiallyin a chamber fi in frame I and is pro- 'ronsa11-en10sa housing for'the pawlmechjected from or retracted into the chamber by the anism.

rotation of a threaded nut 6 (Figure 2) forming Figures 6, 7 and 8 illustrate another form of 45 the driven member of the ratchet mechanism. the invention embodying a tooth threaded nut The driving member of the ratchet mechanism 25, a housing member 26, pawls 21 and 28 and includes a body part I provided with a circular a control pin 29 arranged generally similar to aperture 3, receiving nut 6, and provided with the structure previously described, but instead recesses 9 opening off of recess a, for receiving of the pin being of rectangular cross section and 50 the ratchet pawls la and H, and provided with slidable in recesses in the side of the body mema socket 12 for receiving a lever It by which the her and pawls, the pin is of round stock and is body may be oscillated. inserted through substantially cylindrical pas- Each pawl is pivotally seated at one end in an sagewa'ys extending through the body member arcuate portion M of its recess 9 and at its and the pawls intermediate their upper and lower 55 faces. The pawls are yieldingly thrust into engagement with the teeth by a common spring 30 having its ends secured to respective pawls.

The normal-diameter portions 3| of the pin fit snugly in the passageways in the body and in the pawls to hold the latter out of engagement with the nut teeth, but the reduced-diameter portions 32, when aligned with one of the pawls, permits the latter to pivot about its seat in the housing to move into engagement with the toothed nut. A cover plate 33 completes the housing structure and prevents disassembly of the parts.

In both forms of the invention the teeth, pawls, pawl springs and the pawl engaging portion of the pawl shifting element are completely enclosed and protected from injury from external sources and are substantially protected from dirt, etc. In both forms of the invention the parts may be assembled or disassembled, when the cover plate is removed, by manually pressing both pawls into tooth disengaged position. In the form of the invention shown in Figures 2-5, the pin must be lifted from the rest of the ratchet structure transversely of its length. In the form of the invention shown in Figures 6, '7 and 8, the pin may be withdrawn longitudinally from the rest of the structure.

It will be understood that the ratchet structure is capable of use otherwise than in rail benders and Figure 9 illustrates its application to a rail punch in which the engaged teeth are part of or rigid with a rotatable screw 35 threaded into one arm 36 of a frame member 31, the other arm 38 of which holds a die 39 for receiving the point 40 of a punch movable by screw 35. The ratchet housing 4| may be oscillated ineither direction by, lever 42 according to the setting of the control pin 43.

The details of the structure may be varied otherwise than as shown without departing from the spirit of the invention, and the exclusive use of such modifications as come within the scope of the claims is contemplated.

What is claimed is:

1.- In a ratchet. structure, a driven member having a series of teeth, a relatively rotatable driving member having spring-pressed pawls disposed to engage opposite sides of said teeth respectively whereby said driven member may be moved selectively in opposite directions, there being passages through said pawls, and an element shiftable in said passages and having different cross sections at different portions movable through said passages whereby it may engage and clear, respectively, the sides of said passages in a selected one of said pawls to hold the pawl out of engagement with said ratchet teeth and to permit the other of said pawls to move into engagement with said ratchet teeth.

2. In a ratchet structure of the class described, a driven member having peripheral teeth, an oscillatable drive member surrounding said driven member and having spaced recesses facing said teeth and having a passageway extending transversely of said recesses, pawls loosely seated in said recesses and having transverse openings aligned with said passageway, spring means thrusting said pawls towards said teeth, and a bar slidable in said passageway and openings, and having a relatively thick portion and relatively thin portion, said thick portion being adapted to fill the opening in one of said pawls to hold the same out of tooth engaging position and said thin portion then extending through the opening in the other said pawl and providing for relative movement of the pawl to permit the pawl to be thrust into tooth engaging position by said spring means.

3. In a ratchet structure, a rotatable driven member provided with a series of teeth, a block surrounding said teeth and having a continuous straight-line passage from side to side spaced from said teeth, recesses in said block on opposite sides of its axis, a pair of pawls in said recess, each having one end projectable from its recess towards said teeth and with its other end pivotally seated on the inner wall of its recess, there being a transverse passageway in each of said pawls communicating with said block passageway, spring means normally thrusting said pawls with their passages at an angle to said block passageway to project said pawls towards said teeth, and a bar slidable through all of said passageways and having a thickened portion adapted to substantially fill said passageways and tending, when inserted in one of said pawls, to align its passageway with block passageway and hold that'pawl out of tooth engaging position, said bar having a thinner portion which, when in the pawl, permits the pawl to be turned by said spring means to tooth engaging position.

4. In a ratchet structure, a driven member having a series of teeth, a driving member including a pawl shiftable therein to engage and disengage said teeth, spring means normally thrusting said pawl into engagement with said teeth,

there being a passage through said driving memher and pawl, and an element shiftable manually I in said passage to a stable position in which it holds said pawl against the thrust of said spring out of engagement with said teeth and to another stable position in which it releases said pawl to engage said teeth under the thrust of said spring.

5. A structure as described in claim 4 in which the pawl has a pivotal bearing at one end and a tooth-engaging portion at the other end and the axis and sides of the passageway extend diagonally of the length of the pawl between said ends, a portion of the pawl holding element fitting snugly in the pawl passageway to hold the pawl out of engagement with the tooth and another portion of said element clearing said sides to permit the pawl to pivot relative to said element.

LESTER O. BECKER. 

